The Forbidden Child
by TheEternalFlame14
Summary: After the Giant War, the Romans betrayed the Greeks and attacked their camp. This forced the gods to to wipe their memories once again. Then, a child shows up at Camp Half-Blood. A child that is the result of a broken vow. A child that is forbidden. This sends the world into turmolt. First in a Trilogy. First story so lets see where it goes.
1. Prologue

Two cloaked figures stood in an old, decrepit, and burned down house. The house sat in the middle of a clearing in the woods. It was raining, but neither seemed to notice. One seemed to be younger, a child, maybe. The other, possibly around twenty. The smaller person stood a little bit in front of the other with her back turned. They had been arguing in lowered voices, but lapsed into silence. Then,  
"You know there will be unforeseen consequences, even if Zeus doesn't find out. It's not just a promise that you broke. You swore on the Styx! That's not something to be taken lightly!"  
The smaller figure crossed her arms. After a moment, her voice taut with anger, she spoke: "You make it sound like I wanted this! Like I chose to basically be raped!"  
He took a step forward and stretched out his hand to put it on her shoulder. "Listen," he started," that's not-"  
She whipped around, her hood flying off to reveal red hair that danced in the light breeze. Her emerald eyes blazed with fury as the moonlight made her face shine. The male stepped back, which was most likely smart, because she looked like an angel full of righteous anger, ready to smite her foes in her wrath. "No, you listen to me, Pontus Apollo! It's not my fault that I drank one of Aphrodite's love potions by mistake! And though she would probably deny it, I think she meant for me to have it!" She didn't notice, but as she raged, the moon and stars slowly dimmed. Wolves howled and hawks cried. The trees, with their leaves rustling to a wind much stronger than the one Apollo felt, inched closer and closer to where they were. All of nature was responding to her anger. "Who knows! Maybe it was out of a sick sense of fun! But it's not my fault that when I ran into the woods, trying to hide myself till it wore off, I happened to encounter a mortal hunter!" She suddenly dropped to the floor, drained of her anger. "It's not fair..." She looked up but Apollo was gone. Near where he was standing was a tree. "Apollo? Where did you go?"  
A voice floated down from somewhere above her, "Up here! A little help, Artemis?" The girl, now named Artemis, let her gaze drifted up and saw an arm sticking out of the thick foliage. She glanced about and saw that she was surrounded by trees. They had all but destroyed all that was left of the ruined house. "Artemis! Are you going to let me down?" Apollo called. She sighed and the tree he was caught in disappeared. He fell with a cry onto the ground. He stood up and dusted himself off. His hood had fallen off, giving display to his deep blue eyes. He had leaves and twigs tangled in his short blond hair. "Did you have to let me fall so hard?" She didn't reply, just sent a glare his way. He ignored it and kneeled down beside her. "Are you alright?" The god of the sun asked. She looked at him for a second, then burst into tears.  
Apollo was shocked. The goddess of the hunt never cried! Unsure of what to do, he pulled her close. "There, there, it'll be okay," he soothed. Though they often fought, they were still brother and sister. Twins, actually.  
After a while, she looked up at him with tears in her eyes. "I-I thr-thr-threw myself at him. Like some..." She struggled for a moment, then managed to quietly choke out, "like some lovestruck mortal teenager." She buried herself in his chest again.  
He grabbed her head and made her look him in the eyes. "You did not." She tried to protest but he cut her off. "That was not you. That was the potion. You could not control yourself anymore than your instinct to breathe. It was not your fault."  
Artemis stared at him. She hadn't thought of it that way. She felt a smile teasing at the corners of her mouth. It didn't change what happened, but it helped to ease the crushing sense of guilt she felt. Apollo may be extremely annoying and stupid at times, but he was actually pretty smart. Well, for a boy, anyways. "Thanks, Apollo."  
"No problem." He smiled back at her. "In fact, I'll even claim the kid in, what is it, three years?"  
She nodded. "He's ten years old right now, but his father died a year ago. In and out of orphanages. Ran away a couple times." She smiled fondly. "He's a tough little thing."  
Apollo stood up. "It's settled then." He stuck out a hand to help her up. She ignored it and got up herself. Same old Artemis, he thought wryly to himself. The two of them vanished into the night.

* * *

A dark silhouette detached itself from the back of a tree. It smiled into the darkness. So Artemis had a child! That explained the power surge it had felt a decade ago. The power surge that had originally caused it to begin stirring. The figure's form flickered; it needed to rest a little longer. Yes, it would release what little awareness it had. It needed an alarm, though. A war would do nicely. Yes... Time to give her favorite son some help to rise. The figure began to sink into the ground, already formulating plans and strategies that would take a while to unfold.

The Earth is patient, after all.


	2. Chapter 1- The Party

**A.N.- I know the previous chapter was short, but it was just a prologue. Hopefully my chapters will be getting longer. This is my first story, though, so it might not be as good. I'm also apologizing for the time I took. I was busy this week. I'm nowhere near the caliber of writers such as Anaklusmos14 (who is one of my absolute favorites), but I'll do my best.**

My day was going pretty well, right up until I nearly got kissed. I know there are probably a million questions running through your minds, but all will be answered soon. I generally like kissing, well, 'cept for the fact that I don't do much of it. Fine, I've only been kissed a couple times. ALRIGHT! Full disclosure: I've never kissed a girl in my life unless you count the school slut. Which I don't. Anyways, I digress. See, it's my ADHD again. And I have it bad. I can't sit still for more than 30 minutes, if that. Some people people think that they have school bad. For me, it's not. It's torture. Some of the teachers are nice tell me to get up and do something that involves getting out of my seat. But not Mr. Anthony Laelius. I don't know what I did to tick him off, but I did it big time. He HATES me. Example: detention for coughing, eating lunch with him for talking (when it was really someone on the other side of the room), mountains of homework for sneezing, etc... And he's only been here for half the year (though everyone except me and my friends think he has for much longer)" But I'm digressing again. I was telling you about how my day was good until the kiss.  
First off, I wasn't bothered by the Jerk Squad today. They're basically your populars, jocks, etc. This is a recent development. They normally mess with me relentlessly. Steal books, tease me, hide stuff, the works. They do there best to make my life living hell. What's even worse is most of them are on good terms with Mr. Laelius. Thankfully only a few share his class with me. Them working together would be unbearable. I could take most of them one on one, but I would be overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I mostly choose to ignore them because I simply have better things to do with my time. However, some times I can't help but snap. Especially when I see them bullying some little kid. Or Selenia.  
Also, we had an assembly during History today, so no Mr. Laelius. That's always plus. Some group was talking about the importance of being healthy. I used the opportunity to catch up on some sleep. Though, I was glad they came. They provided us with lunch. Anyone who gives out free food is okay. Especially since it was my favorite: steak. I love steak! Or basically any meat, but definitely steak.  
Even though I'm trying to tell you about something (which I'm starting to think will never happen), I guess I need to tell you about myself. You already know that steak is my favorite, but not really anything else. My name is Ranulf. I am 16 years old. This prison is Clancy Yates High. I live in out in the Tennessean country with my "Nana". We're not really blood related, but we're pretty close. My mom left my dad pretty much right after I was born. My dad died when I was 9. I got shipped out to an orphanage in Chicago. Found out pretty quick I didn't belong. So I ran away. They found me, sent me to another one. I ran away again. They found me. But I just kept running. They eventually gave up. They knew they couldn't stop me. I traveled the country. Every now and then I would get attacked by these weird creatures. I can't even begin to describe them. They were the stuff out of nightmares. But it didn't happen often. Then, when I was fourteen, Nana found me, huddled in an alley. It took a while for her to trust me, but eventually she got me to live with her. She sent me to school a month later. I don't really play any sports, except soccer. I'm pretty good, if I may say so myself. I guess it comes from living on the streets for five years. I'm also in the band. I play the best instrument ever: the trombone. You want to know what I look like? Umm... I'm around 5'7"ish. Just by looking at me you wouldn't think I was strong, but you would think otherwise if you fought me. I'm not saying I'm super strong or anything, but I can hold my own. That's another perk of living on the street. My hair is medium length and no matter what I do, it remains a little unruly. It was originally brown but I dyed it a light green. My eyes are apparently an emerald shade of green that goes well with my hair, according to Selenia.  
I guess I should tell you about Selenia. She is one of my two friends. When I first moved here, we saw each other around and shared a few classes but never really talked. Then something happened. About a month after a started going to Clancy Yates, I saw Darius (he's the leader of the Jerk Squad. The biggest, strongest, and dumbest of them all) picking on some kid who obviously was too small to do anything about it. I walked over there and, long story short, we started arguing. He went to punch me in the face. I dodged it, which just served to make him even angrier. He punched me again, but I ducked and hit him in the stomach. Then, of course, two of his cronies came and held me tight so I couldn't do anything. Darius started clobbering me with his fists. Then Selenia came over. She yelled his name and he turned. He grinned, seeing it was her. He was about to say something but then she slapped him. Hard. His yell of pain and surprise would have made me chuckle if I hadn't been in so much pain. He glared at her but she told him to beat it. He did, and his accomplices followed after roughly dropping me onto the ground. She bent down, saying something I couldn't hear. I could barely see out of my bruised and swollen eyes. I last thing said before I blacked out was, "Your hair's on fire. You might want to fix that."  
It took me about a week to recover. The doctor wouldn't let me go back to school for another 2 days after I had healed. I thought I was fine but he insisted.  
When I finally got back to school, I thanked her at lunch. She said it was her pleasure and told me I was brave standing up for that kid. I grinned, but she quickly wiped that off my face by teasing me relentlessly throughout the rest of lunch for the comment I made about her hair. We started hanging out a bunch after that, though.  
As you can probably guess, she her curly hair is a blazing red. I wasn't too far off when I said her hair was on fire. Her eyes are a seriously icy blue. That's where my nickname for her, Fire and Ice, comes from. She's a couple inches shorter than me, maybe around 5'4". No matter how well you get to know her, she always seems to have an air of mystery around her. Being short doesn't subtract from it. As well as being shorter than me, she's also younger than me. While my birthday was two months ago in March, her sweet sixteen is at the end of June. A lot of the gossip girls say we'd be a good couple. I just roll my eyes, but recently Selenia has gotten a weird look on her face whenever she hears it.  
My other friend is Sam. He moved here a year after I did. Selenia and I could quickly tell he was going to be excluded and picked on, so we took him under our wing. He's really timid, but recently we've convinced him to break out of his shell a bit. He has some weird disorder in his legs that keeps him from being able to do P.E. He's a veggie freak though. I guess we kinda balance out. I mean, we'll both eat the other (meat for him and veggies for me), but oftentimes my veggies will end up on his plate and his meat on mine. His hair is a light blond, while his eyes are a dark brown. He's one or two inches shorter than me, and, just like Selenia, he's a little younger. We don't know by how much, though, 'cause he won't tell us. We do know that he's still 15.  
Finally! Now that that's out of the way, I can get back on topic. I was at a party for a, well, not exactly a friend, but an... acquaintance of ours, Grayson. I rarely go to social events like this, but Selenia begged me to. I eventually give in, but only because I knew that if she really wanted me to go, she would find a way to get me there. She also managed to wring Sam into it. I, of course, drove the three of us, seeing as I'm the only one with a license.  
The party was at a cabin in the middle of the woods. It wasn't huge, but it was pretty good sized. It had two bathrooms, a kitchen, a couple bedrooms, and a larger room where the dancing was. It had a porch that wrapped around one of the sides and the back. The place was completed by a large pond a little ways behind the house. It was totally awesome. If someone gave me the option of living there, I would totally do it.  
I mostly just sat in a corner, thinking and observing. Watching people dancing, the sweat pouring off there bodies. Most of the sophomore class was invited (except for most of the Jerk Squad), so the dance floor was jam packed. I was surprised when I saw Selenia out there. She was dancing! And she was good, too. She tried to drag me out there a couple times, but quickly give up because I would always sneak back to my seat after a song or two. She left me to sit there, watching people dance, couples sneaking off to make out, some not even bothering to find some privacy. At one point Sam moved over to where I was sitting. We chatted in low tunes. The conversation eventually moved to Selenia.  
"So, how 'bout Selenia?" Sam asked.  
"I know!" I responded. "Her, dancing? I'm amazed too!"  
He rolled his eyes. I got the impression that wasn't what he meant. "Not that! Haven't you noticed?"  
I raised an eyebrow. "Noticed what? That Grayson has been dancing awfully close to her? Yes, I did," was my reply.  
Sam facepalmed. "That's not it either! The constant looking at you! The look on her face when someone says you two would be a good couple! How she gets angry when other girls flirt with y-"  
I cut him off. "Girls flirting with me?" I snorted. The idea seemed so preposterous. "Listen, Sam, I don't know what got slipped into your drink, but no girl ever flirts with me! Why would they? I'm not ripped, I'm not a genius, I'm not funny, I'm not anything. I'm just an outcast!"  
"That's beside the point. Selenia, she's..." He chuckled, then grinned evilly. "You know what? I think I'll let you figure it out yourself! Oh!" His eyes widened. "Speak of the devil! Here she comes now!" He got up, despite my insistence that he tell me what was going on.  
Selenia stopped right in front of me. "Come on, Ranulf. I have something I want to tell you."  
I stayed sitting down and glared at her. "No, I am not going out there and dancing again! No way!"  
"No, that's not it. I want you to come outside with me."  
I reluctantly let her pull me to my feet. Puzzled, I inquired, "Why would you want to take me outside? The only reason people go outside at thriving late night party is to make out, and I don't think that's your reason."  
She blushed. She actually blushed. She didn't say anything, however, just led me outside. _Why would she blush?_ I thought to myself. _It's not like she _was_ going to do that, right? She's just my best friend. It's not like she has any feelings for me._ But a nagging voice that sounded a lot like Sam was getting suspicious.  
She pulled me behind a tree near the lake, startling a couple that, by the looks of there disheveled clothes and wild hair, seemed to have been interrupted in the middle of something. Selenia quickly shooed them away. She stood a little bit in front of me while facing me. After a second, she spoke. "Ranulf, what do you think about me?"  
Caught off-guard, I struggled for a moment. I was not expecting that. "W-what do you mean?" I questioned her, genuinely curious.  
She answered, "What would you do if I kissed you, right here and now?"

My jaw dropped. Did she just ask me what I would do if she kissed me?! I bet this has something to do with my conversation with Sam. "Well," I said thoughtfully, "I'd be extremely surprised. I mean, your my best friend! Don't get me wrong, you're good-looking and all, but why would you want to kiss me?"

She stepped closer so that our faces were nearly touching. A twig snapped behind me, but we both ignored it. Then she grabbed my shirt right below the collar with one hand, then poked me in the arm with the other to emphasize each word. "Because I like-"  
"Well, well, well, what are my favorite two students doing out in the woods when there's a party nearby? And without their protector, no less. Tsk tsk tsk!"  
I whirled around as I heard a voice that filled us both with absolute loathing.

**A.N.- Okay, that probably wasn't that interesting, till the end when things actually started moving. Fine, that chapter sucked. It does have a purpose, though. I can promise that the later chapters will be better. Hopefully.**

**Answers to reviews:  
boss-man887- Thanks, I'll try to work on the grammar. And by the way, I know a couple sentences are fragments. I did that on purpose. But what do you mean by tagging Artemis and Apollo? Do you mean mentioning them in the summary? The story's not about them, it's about Ranulf. That was just a little prologue to introduce the idea of the story. Sorry if I didn't make that clear enough.**

**I'd also like to thank my first two followers, Potatoeheadgod and I am May Daughter of Demeter.**

**But I specifically want to thank Thalia Di Angilo. Your enthusiastic response is what made me forget about possibly abandoning this later. I'm sorry this probably won't be as good as the last chapter, but it had to be done.**


	3. Chapter 2- A One-Sided Battle

**A.N.- I was thinking. It would be a lot easier to catch mistakes and get ideas and such if I had a beta. I'm not quite sure how the process works, but if anyone wants to be my beta, PM me and we'll talk.  
I also haven't done a disclaimer, so here it is: I don't own PJO or anything like that. I think y'all can figure out what I own and what I don't own.**

"Mr. Laelius! What the heck are you doing here?" I growled. I could not fathom why he was here. This was a _student's_ party! It was an unspoken rule that teachers weren't allowed, even if they had wanted to go. Well, he technically wasn't at the party, but he was nearby, and I _highly_ doubted he was here for the scenery.  
Then another voice cut through the darkness. "You and your little" he said a word that I shall not write down but nonetheless caused my blood to boil, "girlfriend should show more respect, _freak_!" I narrowed my eyes. It didn't bother me in the slightest that he had insulted me. That's happened plenty of times! No, as I said before, the only thing that enraged me was his vulgar description of Selenia.  
As the speaker stepped out of the shadows, I retorted furiously, "Shut your mouth, you big prat, Dar-" My eyes widened and I stopped speaking. The stupid idiot was not Darius. I had no clue who the heck he was.  
Laelius chuckled. "You don't recognize your old enemy? Shame, shame, shame. Maybe you'll recognize him better like this!" He snapped his fingers and Darius was standing beside him instead of the other dude. And I mean in the exact same place. I blinked trying to figure out what had happened.  
"Darius!" Selenia hissed angrily. "What do you two want!  
They both chuckled. "Two of us? Why, there's definitely more than two of us!" Both Selenia and I gasped. As soon as he finished speaking, about 30 wolves stepped forward. They seemed strangely uniform. Each ones' eyes shined yellow. Every single pelt was black with a little bit of brown mixed in, and they all were roughly the size of a Great Dane. "As for what we want, it's not what _we_ want. Our Master wants you dead. He wants to sacrifice you so that-" He stopped himself. "You almost got me to spill some top secret... thing that is worth more than I'm willing to pay. It probably wouldn't matter, since you're going to die soon, but no sense in taking chances, eh?" He suddenly started scratching all over. "Ack! I hate using the Mist to disguise myself!"  
"Why don't you stop? There's no need for secrecy anymore," Darius suggested.  
"What a great idea! It'll also make them more fearful!" Laelius gave an evil grin then snapped his fingers. Mr. Laelius melted away. In his place was the most horrific-looking man ever. His hair was greasy and ragged, the color of ashes and soot, with a crown of what looked like... finger bones, maybe? Yuck! His robes were made of tattered fur: wolf, rabbit, raccoon, deer, and several others that were unidentifiable. They didn't seem cured, and from the smell, weren't very recent, either. His body was lithe and muscular, like a long distance runner's. But the most terrible thing was his face. His thin, pale skin was pulled so tight over his skull that the skin shined. His teeth were sharpened, like fangs. His eyes glowed a deep, crimson blood-red. He belonged in a horror movie.  
The person that was Mr. Laelius chuckled at our horror-struck expressions. He leaned forward and bared his teeth at us. "Come on, you two, can't you guess who I am?"  
At that exact moment, Sam -that moron- came racing outside. He ran over to where we were while Selenia and I tried to tell him to go back inside. "Thank Zeus I found you two! What were you thinking, sneaking out like that! Hades, don't you know it's not safe!"  
"Well, well, well, looks like your protector finally decided to show up! Welcome! Fortunately, you're not needed to die at a later date. Thus, you going to be eaten! I find saytr meat rather stringy, but my wolves might not think so!"  
Sam paled to a white-as-a-sheet color as he slowly turned to the now unknown... person, if he could even be called that. "L-l-l-l-Lycaon? W-w-what are you d-doing here?" He eventually managed to stammer out.  
This person, now named... Lycaon? replied, but I failed to catch it, as these bizarre words were swirling around in my brain. _Zeus... Hades... The Mist... Saytr... Lycaon... Where in the world do these words come from? They almost sound like..._ My eyes widened, if they could get any bigger, _Greek mythology? But... no! It couldn't be! This must be some kind of sick dream_.  
I was snapped out of my daze when I realized that Lycaon was staring at me, obviously waiting for a response to a question I didn't hear. "I'm sorry, what, shiny-skull?" I almost snarled at him.  
He snorted. "I was asking you if you would come peacefully or make us subdue you forcefully, god-scum?" He riposted and took a step forward.  
"Of course not, chimney cleaner! We would rather die!" I yelled, looking at Sam and Selenia for confirmation. They both nodded. Sam unstrapped a two-and-a-half foot long club that was made out of some weird metal from his the side of his jeans and stood ready to fight. I never knew he had it, but I wasn't complaining! Selenia started nervously twisting a ring on her pinkie finger. Suddenly a beautifully crafted bow appeared in her hand and a quiver full of arrows on her back. Judging from her expression, she was just as surprised as I was. I didn't have time to ponder it, however, because I need a weapon. I desperately looked around and rummaged through my pockets. I ended up with a couple pencils. Pathetic, I know, but it was the best I could come up with. I held all but one in my left hand and shifted a foot back.  
"You're going to regret this, Kyra!" He bellowed, using my last name like it was an insult. "You could have chosen the pain-free way, but now, you and your little _friends_ won't be so lucky!" He dropped on all fours with his body rippling. I watched, fascinated and horrified at the same time, as he sprouted huge masses of hair all over his body. Except it wasn't hair. It was fur. The fur was an even darker shade of black than the other wolves behind him. His teeth elongated and became actual fangs and his toenails, claws. He looked just like the other wolves, except that he was about the size of a horse and his eyes were a deep eery blood-red. He was... a werewolf.  
Darius did the same, although he looked just like the others, albeit a little bit a little bigger, signifying his status as lieutenant. This confirmed my suspicion that all the others were werewolves instead of regular wolves. I paled. According to legend, only silver could hurt werewolves. Maybe my pencils would do something, but it wouldn't be much 'cause, I mean, they're pencils! Selena's arrows wouldn't do anything, and Sam's club probably the same. I wasn't sure if this was true, however; I didn't know what to believe anymore.  
I heard Selenia muttering to my left. "Of course! Lycaon, King of the Werewolves." Despite our current situation, I rolled my eyes. Of course _she_ would be the one to figure it out, having the obsession with Greek Mythology that she does.  
Lycaon let out what sounded like a laugh. "Glad to see you finally know who I am! But it won't help you. You're still going down!" With those final words (don't ask me how he spoke) he howled, giving the werewolves the signal to attack.  
They charged, and let me tell you 32 wolves (including Darius and their King) running straight at you is a terrifying sight to behold. _That_, was what we were up against. Selenia stood back, firing arrows in a attempt thin their ranks. Sam stood a little ways to the left and in front of her. He stood with his club, ready to hold them off so Selenia would have more time. Both were pretty ineffective. Shoot, even my pencils were doing more damage! I stood a bit to Sam's right, throwing those same pencils at the wolves. Then, they were upon us.  
I looked at Sam. His club just passed straight through the wolves. One leaped on me. I held my last pencil up in a meager shot at defending myself. It barreled into me, sending us both crashing to the ground. The pencil snapped, and I felt it change shape in my hand. I pushed the wolf off of me, stood up, and gave it a kick, sending it rolling into a couple others. I looked at what had been half a pencil in my hand. In its place was a curved dagger. I looked around and spied its counterpart lying on the ground where I assumed the other half had fallen. I bent and scooped it up right as another wolf flew over me. I straightened up and grinned. Now that I had some _real_ weapons, I could actually do some damage. With that happy thought, I launched myself into the fray.  
It became obvious pretty quickly that my daggers were doing about as much damage as Selenia's arrows or Sam's club; that is to say, zilch. I put them though my belt and balled my fists. Time to do things the old fashioned way! A wolf leapt at me. I ducked into a crouch and punched it in the stomach. Another one came charging at me. I attempted to dodge it by jumping to the side but its claws still managed to cut deep into my left bicep. I turned around and jabbed my fist at it. It recoiled and a third came at me. I poked it hard in both of its eyes. It yelped and I pushed it to the side. One leapt on top of me and began tearing open my chest with its claws. I managed to kick it off of me after it mangled my chest pretty bad, sending it barreling into a couple others. Another made a dash at me. I jumped above it and accidentally landed on top of it! It sprinted around, trying to shake me off. I wrapped my arms around its neck and held on for dear life. I tried to steer it into other wolves by tugging at its neck. It worked, to some degree, and we went crashing into everything, including Sam. He flew to the ground, and I yelled a quick "Sorry!" at him. I nearly ran into Selenia too, but managed to pull the wolf to the side in time.  
The Wolf Express was slowly regaining control, so I knew I had to ditch it. I sent it running at another werewolf and dived to the side. Unable to skid to a stop because of the speed it was going at, it rammed into the second wolf, sending them both flying. I stood up and dusted myself off. Unluckily, a wolf snuck up on me and sent me sprawling to the ground, trapped underneath it. I struggled to escape but it held me firm. I looked around. Both of my friends were trapped as well, Sam probably because I crashed into him while I was on my steed. I mouthed an apology at him. He rolled his eyes and gave my a look that said, _Watch where you're going next time bro!_ I grinned and shook my head no. He rolled his eyes again.  
Then Lycaon stalked towards us in human form. The coward had hung back since the beginning, letting his subjects do all the dirty work. "Well, well, well! Looks like the high and mighty Mr. Kyra has finally been humbled! You know, " he bent down to my level and looked me straight in the eye, "you really should listen when someone gives you a generous offer. It would be wise to take them up on it." I gathered some spit in my mouth and launched it at his face. It hit him in the eye. _Good shot!_ I thought to myself, though it probably would've been better if I had missed. His eyes smoldered with fury as he wiped his eye in outrage. "You will regret that little bit of disrespect, Ranulf Kyra. You had your chance. Now, you will die!" He raised a hand, which morphed into a claw, and slashed it across my face. I cried out in pain as it drew a long gash over my right eye. Thankfully, I closed both of them in the nick of time, otherwise I could have lost my eye. As it was, retaining sight was still in question, because when I tried to open them, only my left eye opened.  
"You can't kill us!" I heard Selenia shout in defiance. "Your Master won't be very pleased if you show up with nothing to show for this little excursion!"  
He bared his most fiendish grin at her. "Oh, but yes I can! All I have to do is kill a couple of my werewolves and tell him that they went berserk, killing you three before they could be stopped!" He walked over to where Selenia was trapped. "I think your little girlfriend should have the honor of dying first!" I struggled as hard as I could as he raised his claw above Selenia's throat.  
He was just about to bring it down and slice her neck open when a figure in an orange T-shirt dropped down from the trees about 10 yards from us with his knees bent and his head down, causing small tremors to radiate out from where he landed. "No one is dying today, Lycaon!" He uttered in a quiet voice that was heard by everyone and turned every single werewolf's blood to ice. His head snapped up with a feral grin on his face. "That is, no one except for you and your mutts!"

**A.N. Hehehe I love cliffies. If it wasn't for the fact that everyone probably can figure out who the mysterious savior is, I would assume you thought I was evil. Btw, if you didn't get the chimney cleaner thing, it was because King Lycaon's hair was the color of soot.**

**Also, do you like what I did with Lycaon's pseudo-name? Laelius is a Roman name that means "lunar", referring to him being a werewolf.**

**More disclaiming. I pretty much copied the description of Lycaon from TLH. I just changed a couple words. Same with the werewolves but that was more like copy-then-change-it-so-that-there-is-only-one-and- half-things-left-from-it. That was more my actual work. So many dashes.**

**Answers to reviews and stuff:**

**Thank you Guest, for notifying me that I messed up in adding the previous chapter**

**Thank you cbarbs and ATTICUSCHASE, my two new story followers (in case you were wondering, I won't be doing this forever. Just for the first couple)**

**Specially thanking Thalia Di Angilo once again for your awesome review. You are really awesome and I think you deserve the title of My #1 Fan. I'm kinda hoping you'll volunteer for being my beta. **

**TheEternalFlame14 out**


	4. Chapter 3- Jealousy and a Savior

**A.N.- Sorry for the long wait, guys. I was at two different camps the past two weeks and couldn't update. There may be a few more errors than usual as well, because I didn't proofread this as much in an attempt to get this up ASAP. So sorry about that, but here's the next chapter.**

_"No one is dying today, Lycaon!" He uttered in a quiet voice that was heard by all and turned every single werewolf's blood to ice. His head snapped up with a feral grin on his face. "That is, no one except for you and your mutts!"_

"N-n-no! It can't be! _He_ wasn't supposed to be here!" Lycaon cried out, the stark terror obvious in voice. The raven haired person didn't reply, just chuckled.  
"Who are you?!" Selenia and I both simultaneously said in awe. Sam just looked like Christmas had come early. I agreed with him. If anyone made Lycaon _that_ afraid, I would gladly welcome them with open arms. And he was obviously powerful. The ground didn't tremor because he was giant; he _actually_ caused a small earthquake!  
"Perseus Jackson, demigod son of Poseidon, at your service." He bowed with a flourish. "But you can call me Percy."  
Selenia giggled. She actually giggled! She never giggles. I've always prided myself with the fact that I'm the only one ever to make her do it. Well, me and Sam. But that's only because he tickled her. Normally I would've just rolled my eyes, but nothing about this whole situation was normal. I felt a funny twist in my gut. Was that... Jealousy? Why would I be jealous? Nah, it was just the werewolf's paw on my chest shaking in fear.  
Then Sam spoke up, "Percy, you really are modest!" He looked over at Selenia and I. "May I introduce you to Percy Jackson, Savior of Olympus twice over, Slayer of Giants, Titans, the Minotaur, the Clazmonian Sow, 100's of other monsters, and Leader of Camp Half-Blood." I wasn't even fazed anymore at these foreign phrases. I just understood that this 18 looking year old was powerful.  
Before Percy could respond, Lycaon, having regained his composure for the moment, cut in. "But he shall not add Slayer of the King of Werewolves to that list!" He sneered. "You cannot kill me! You don't have any silver!"  
Percy chuckled, which served to send Lycaon's poise into shambles again at Percy's confidence. "That is correct." At this, Lycaon was lulled into a false sense of security once again. He continued, "Unfortunately for you, there are other ways to kill your mutts!" As expected, Lycaon lost it again. His wolves sensed this and started fidgeting nervously. "I don't need a sword or any other weapon. And you know I'm not boasting. I. Can. Kill. You."  
The werewolves backed off. They obviously believed him. They got off our chests and surrounded _King_ Lycaon, who had retreated a little bit behind his subordinates, in a circle. We got up and made our way over to where Percy was standing, me a bit slower due to my serious wounds. We stood with him in between us and the mutts, as he liked to call them.  
I looked at my two friends, assessing their injuries. Selenia's arms were covered with claw-marks and she had one above her left eye, effectively blinding it from the blood flowing over it. Sam had it worse. His pants were all ripped up. The only reason the remains of his shirt were still clinging to his body was the blood that was acting like glue. He had gashes on his torso (though not as bad as mine) and light scratches up his arms, mostly on his right arm, seeing as he had held his club in his left hand. His Atlanta Braves SnapBack that he alway wore no matter what had come off, revealing... two inch horns. To me, this was just another in a long list of surprises. Through the rips in his pants, I could see blond fur that was matted with blood and slightly darker than his short hair. I guess _he_ was the saytr Lycaon was talking about earlier.  
At that exact moment it started pouring down rain. No warning whatsoever, just a sudden deluge. One second the night sky was completely clear, the next, the heavens pull out all the stops. It seemed so unnatural. I glanced over at the pond, which was around thirty yards behind the mongrels. It was beginning to burst its banks. I started to cry out, but Percy quickly clamped his hand down over my mouth. Unfortunately his hand hit the gashes on my face, causing me to involuntarily kick him in the shins. He grunted but didn't let go. I turned to him with a question in my eyes. I wasn't angry, but only because I knew he better have a good explanation. He shook his head with an apologetic look in his eyes and mouthed, _Wait_. I shrugged and nodded. Even though I'd just met him, I trusted him. I couldn't quite explain it, but it seemed perfectly natural to do so. That and the fact that he obviously had much experience fighting even worse fiends than this was what made me decide to go along with whatever crazy plan he had concocted.  
Both sides just stood there, neither willing to move a muscle. As the tension mounted ever higher, the pond crept its sinister way closer and closer...  
Then, getting restless, the King of Werewolves commanded the creatures he controlled, "Charge them, you gutless cowards! Put an end to this madness and rip them to pieces!" As their lines broke forth, the "pond", if it was still small enough to be called that, broke forth in a huge wave. As they turned, the wave broke into millions of tendrils about as thick as my fist. The wolves all yelped and tried to run off in every direction. However, it seemed none would be able to escape. Most tendrils wrapped around our foes and dragged them to the water and held them underwater. A minute later, a limp body would float to the surface and the tendril would shoot back out of the water, ready to drown another victim. Others would snap their necks, leaving them lying there in a pool of blood.  
I looked over at Percy and grinned. He looked like he was conducting a extremely hectic piece of music. I guessed that he was controlling the water and this was his plan. It made sense; he said he was a son of Poseidon. He saw me looking and returned my grin. My jaw dropped. I assumed commanding that much water would wear him out, but he hadn't even broken a sweat! His grin widened when he noticed this but turned back to his work without saying anything. I shut my mouth and as I was turning around, my gaze happened to fall on Selenia.  
She was staring at him with complete awe. She didn't even notice a wolf almost sneak up on her until one of the tendrils grabbed it. She was dead to the world. I knew for sure this time I was jealous. She never looked at me like that. For a moment I hated Percy. But then I realized that I was being unfair. She had never seen anything like this. I guess it's like some of the girls at school having a crush on somebody in a boy band. They think that they're cute and all, but still have boyfriends and stuff. Yeah... that must be it.  
I turned back to the werewolves. Or, rather, where they were. The ones that drowned were floating in human form face-down in the water. Percy grimaced and a wave carried them out of the water and onto the shore next to where the ones whose necks got snapped were lying.  
I walked up the Percy and gave him a high-five. "Wow. Good job man! That... that was something else."  
He looked at me. "You know, you're taking this awfully well for someone who's just finding out about gods and demigods."  
I shrugged, but before I could reply, Selenia walked over and butted in, "Oh, he'll probably just go into shock later. Me? I always knew there was something out there. Why not the Greek gods?" She hugged him and I stiffened. "Thanks for saving us, by the way."  
He noticed and quickly disengaged himself. "You're welcome." He coughed, clearing his throat.  
Then Sam's voice carried over, "I don't think he's saved us quite yet." He was inspecting the bodies over by the pond, which had shrunk down to its original size. "I can't find King Lycaon's body."  
Percy frowned and the two of us walked over to where Sam was kneeling. "Now that you mention it, I don't remember seeing him getting caught by the water. The coward, he probably slunk off during the confusion," he growled.  
Then, speak of the devil, a voice belonging to someone I now loathed drifted over to where the three of where squatting, "I'm glad you _finally_ remembered me. I was beginning worry you had forgotten me already!"  
We spun around together to see Lycaon standing right behind Selenia. I shot to my feet and started sprinting to her. "Ah, ah, ah! I wouldn't do that if I was you!" His was in human form, but his hand was a claw and he had it at her throat. He pressed it into her throat, causing a few pinpricks of blood to appear. I quickly stopped in my tracks. I heard Percy and Sam walk up and the former stood to my right, the latter on my left.  
Percy put a hand on my shoulder. "Let her go!" He bellowed angrily. He tried to send a tendril of water at Lycaon, but the mongrel just pressed his claws deeper into her throat.  
I turned and grabbed his arm. "Stop it!" I cried out. "You'll kill her!"  
Lycaon snickered. "I glad _one_ of you has some sense." He then tried to do an imitation of me, "Stop it!" He mocked. "You'll kill her!" Needless to say, it wasn't very accurate. He continued in his normal voice, "He's right. If you try to fight me, I'll just slit her throat. So what are you gonna do?"  
Percy slumped his shoulders, defeated. "What do you want from us?" He said in a dejected voice.  
Lycaon grinned. "Ah, two with sense now!" At Percy's glare, he got on with it. "You are going to come with me to meet my Master. Now, you two aren't needed," he pointed at Percy and Sam, which made Percy's face light up, "but I'm taking you with me anyways. I can't have you possibly go to get help and ambush us." Percy's face fell again. It was obvious he was planning to do just that. "Now come along peacefully," Lycaon jeered. "That is, unless you want your little _slut_ girlfriend to have her pretty little head separated from her body."  
I could feel my blood boiling again. But it was different from other times. It was more like... rage was building inside of my body. I was absolutely _furious_. And looking back on it, I'm not sure why. I don't think it was just because I was mad at what he called Selenia. But no matter what it was, that something in me was awakening. And it was _not_ happy at all. I felt a tug in my gut. The winds started picking up. The pond was getting restless. The stars dimmed and the whole night was getting darker. But something was off. The wind was picking up, yes, but it also would die down, before picking up once again. The pond would become calm, before the waves started thrashing about again. Instead of just dimming, the stars were flickering. It was like whatever this was, it was unsure of what it was doing. Or it was being restrained. The only thing that was unaffected was the darkness. It was pitch black. I could see _nothing_.  
The oddest thing about this, was though I couldn't see my hand in front of my face, it was like I could _sense_ it. It wasn't the only thing, however. I could also sense Sam and Percy on either side of me, and Selenia and that knave a bit in front of me. At the thought of him, I let out a horrible yell. As if I commanded them, the winds suddenly surged forward in a huge wave. Literally a wave. In the charge, the pond got caught up with the winds and carried with them. Both crashed into us sending the five of us crashing to the ground except for Lycaon and me. I was completely untouched by the onslaught while he, well, he got much more than getting sent to the ground. No, he was sent flying into the forest, probably crashing into more than a few trees along the way.  
After this, the winds died down, the stars returned, and the light level was returned to normal. The pond, well... that was a different matter. All the water in the pond was gone, probably from the wild assault. A couple trees were uprooted, but not too many.  
I looked at my two friends. They were lying on the ground. For some reason, Percy was completely dry. I mentally shrugged. _Whatever. Must be a "son of Poseidon" thing,_ I reasoned to myself. Sam, though, was completely drenched, but that was to be expected. I helped them both up.  
We turned to Selenia. She too was lying on the ground, wet like a drowned rat. Sam ran to her while I started to chase after Lycaon. Nevertheless, Percy grabbed my arm. I swiveled around quickly. "What?!" I demanded to know. "Let me after him. He'll get away!"  
He shook his head. "Let it be," he said in a placative tone. "He's gotten his due. He won't bother us anymore." I reluctantly stood down and we walked over to where Selenia was now standing up with Sam.

"Man, what was that?" Selenia inquired of us as we got closer.  
Sam replied, "Search me. Any thoughts, Percy?"  
"I don't really know. I do have one theory, but it's extremely unlikely.  
"I don't care! Tell- Hey!" Selenia cut off her retort because I suddenly stumbled and collapsed before she caught me. "Ranulf! Are you alright?"  
I smiled at her. "Of course. Never better." Then I blacked out from sheer exhaustion and the crazy night I'd had.

**A.N- I was planning on making a much longer chapter to make up for the long wait, but that seemed like a good place to end it. And anyways, that would make for an even longer wait. **

**Alright, I have some questions I want your help answering. The first: Ranulf is obviously going to be really powerful by the time this series is over, so, to balance it out, he needs some weaknesses. Like Frank has his stick. I need something that would keep Ranulf from getting too powerful.  
The second: Fatal flaw. I have a couple ideas in mind, but I want to know what you guys think. I should have a poll up on my webpage by the time I post this, so that will be where you vote. But just because one wins doesn't mean I'll use it. It just tells me what y'all think. I'll just view it as a suggestion.  
Also, to make things more fair on the poll, if "Other" wins, I shall post a new poll, but with all the flaws submitted under "Other" and possibly the second place flaw. **


	5. Chapter 4- Summer Camp, really?

**A.N.- I'm extremely sorry I took forever to get this up. I've been busy and am going through a bit of a rough patch. Anyways... I made this a bit longer to try and make up for it.**

_ "I don't care! Tell- Hey!" Selenia cut off her retort because I suddenly stumbled and collapsed before she caught me. "Ranulf! Are you alright?"_

_ I smiled at her. "Of course. Never better." Then I blacked out from sheer exhaustion and the crazy night I'd had._

_ * * *  
I was lying in the middle of a grassy meadow. The meadow was surrounded by various varieties of trees and there was a small pond few yards to my right. I stood up and slowly walked over to it. When I reached it my gaze was drawn to my reflection. Except I had none. Instead of my watery counterpart, there were various images flashing across the surface of the pond. I looked up to the sky to make sure nothing was going on overhead. The sky was empty, apart from a few clouds that drifted lazily above. I turned back to the visions, and when I did, it seemed to grow till it filled my of sight. What I saw scared me so bad, that if I was awake, I'm sure my pants would be soiled._

_ I saw from atop a hill a camp laid out before me with figures in orange T-shirts milling about, having fun and doing camp things. The scenery shifted and another camp was sprawled out below me. But this one, however, was more militarized. And all the people were in purple shirts, as opposed to the oranges ones from the other camp. It shifted once again to a third camp. It was somewhere between the laid-back attitude of the first one and the strict one of the second. Everyone was wearing green shirts. I then saw each of these in flames, and everyone was screaming. But those were not the scary ones. Oh-no._

_ I saw a man scream agony and then painfully change into a monstrous beast. I saw cities awash in flames, people screaming while monsters laid waste to them. I saw somebody floating in the air. They curled up and then suddenly released releasing a tidal wave of dark flame, which destroyed everything in its path. The visions showed me trees taking over civilization while a wave of darkness covered everything. I was shown a man lying on the ground. He had long, white hair, that if he was mortal, would belong on somebody who was dark and not happy with their life. I could feel the power radiating off him in waves. I fervently wished he was somehow mortal, even if reason told me otherwise. His eyes ruined any thought of that, however. They flew open, revealing glowing eyes that were a solid crimson, even the sclera. An evil grin crept its way across his face._

_ The chain of images was broken when I fell face-first into the pond. When I later awoke I remembered nothing of my strange and horrifying dream._

* * *

As I struggled to swim from the realm of dreams into the land of the living, I noticed things. Just small things, nothing major. Soft sheets, wrapped around me. A nice, fluffy pillow under my head. Gentle, even breathing coming from somewhere to my left. It was close. I slowly pried my eyes open to see I was in a very nice room. And very clean, too. White walls, white sheets (still soft though!), white cabinets, white everything! The blinding light hurt my eyes, so I half shut them. Man, it was like a hospital room. And trust me, I've been in plenty of those.

The pain suddenly hit me like the freak wave which emptied the pond that night. Had I been sitting up, I would have fallen back onto the sheets. It _hurt_. It felt like I had been hit by a train. I groaned aloud. What had I done to be in so much pain?

I again heard the breathing to my left and slowly turned my head to face the direction the sound was coming from. My eyes landed on Selenia. She sat slumped in a chair beside the bed I was lying in. I assumed she had fallen asleep while taking care of me. I could believe I needed it, with the amount of pain I was in. "Selenia..." I managed to croak out.

Her eyes flew open. She saw I was awake and quickly sat up. "Ranulf! You're awake!"

"No!" I replied, my weak voice dripping with sarcasm. "My eyes are open and I'm speaking, but I'm still asleep!"

She stared at me for a second. Then, with no warning whatsoever, she suddenly bolted from the room, wrenching the door open and slamming it behind her. I winced, the enormous _bang_ hurting my ears. I could hear loud cries of "He's awake!" echoing throughout wherever the heck I was. _Somebody _was excited.

I struggled to remain awake for when she returned, but as the door swung open, my eyes betrayed me, and the darkness claimed me once more.

* * *

I awoke a few times after that, but none of my episodes were for as long. I remember a pretty blonde girl who looked looked about my age leaning over me. She was spooning some kind of pudding into my mouth. When her big brown eyes noticed I was awake, she smiled warmly at me. I smiled back at her as I drifted away again.

Most of the other times I was awake even less. Just a quick opening of the eyes before they were closed again. I noticed various people sitting in Selenia's chair. Some were awake, others asleep. Once it was Sam; another Percy. In one awakening, a buff-looking blond dude stood by the open door. He looked kinda like a surfer. At the time I thought he was a hallucination, because he had eyes all over every visible bit of his skin.

* * *

When I rose from my comatose state for the final time, the blonde girl was there. She stood by the door and a bit to my right with her arms crossed. She was staring down at me with a frown on her face, but when she perceived I was awake, her expression softened. "Hey. How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Hmm..." I pondered her question. I sat up and stretched. "A little stiff, but for the most part, pain-free. Though my face hurts like crap." I finally gave my response.

"That's probably from where King Lycaon cut you," she informed me while walking over to the wall and grabbed the mirror that hung there. She came back and held it at the end of the bed. "Nonetheless, it's a nice scar."

She was right. It stretched diagonally across my face. It started from slightly above and a bit to my right of my right eye and over the bottom part of the bridge of my nose to the left side of my jaw. It made me look tough.

"Still, could be worse," she continued. "A lot of people thought you wouldn't live."

I looked at her, shocked. People thought I wouldn't live? "Why would y'all think that? And whose 'y'all' anyways?" I really needed some answers.

She looked at me like it was obvious. Well thanks. I'm not exactly in the loop here. I've been passed out for I don't know how long. "Well, you had been cut up pretty badly," she said, interrupting my train of thought. "Percy patched up the best he could, but by the time he got you here, you'd lost a lot of blood. As for where you are, you're in New York at Camp Half-Blood."

I started firing questions off pretty quickly. I need information, and I needed it now. "New York!? How did he manage to get me here? And Camp Half-Blood? What in the world is that? How long was I out? Who are y-"

She cut me off, "Whoa there! Slow down! I'll do my best to answer all your questions, but you need to drink this first." She reached over and grabbed a tall glass from the bedside table. It looked like apple juice and had one of those swirly straws in it. She placed it in my hand then started staring staring daggers at me when I didn't drink it.

I glared right back at her. I was not going to drink apple juice when there were answers to be had. I wanted to now what the hell was going on and I would not be denied. Unfortunately, she was just as stubborn as me, which is saying something, because according to Sam and Selenia, I've argued with a brick wall before... and won.

We just sat (or in her case stood) there, neither budging until I realized I would get what I wanted faster if I did what she asked. I sighed and, swallowing my pride, grudgingly took a sip through the straw. I mentally recoiled from the taste. It was not what I was expecting. It tasted like my Nana's homemade brownies. On the outside, however, my angry stare never wavered.

She smiled when she saw me take another sip. She motioned for me to keep drinking as she began to speak: "There you go. You've been out for, " she paused, doing some mental calculations, "five or six days." My jaw dropped. Six days? No wonder they were worried! "I'm Alexia," she continued, "daughter of Apollo."

"Daughter of Apollo," I said slowly. "The Greek gods? Like how Percy said he was a son of Poseidon?"

She nodded. "That's right. You catch on quick." I shrugged at this. "Now, can I continue, or will you keep interrupting?" I glared at her again and she took this as my consent. "Percy managed to borrow a boat, as he puts it, and prayed to his father for a speedy journey. Poseidon consented, and they arrived in a day."

"Talk about a quick travel," I mumbled quietly. Nevertheless, she still heard heard me and was not happy.

"I thought you said you wouldn't interrupt me again!" she exclaimed.

"Well, technically, I never _said_ I wouldn't," I countered.

"Look, do you want your questions answered or not? 'Cause I'm more than happy to not tell you anything."

Point Alexia. "Fine, shutting up now," I muttered.

"Good. Now, for your final question, Camp Half-Blood is exactly that. It's a camp for the half-blood offspring of gods and mortals, more commonly referred to as _demigods_. It's the only safe place for us, because all demigods have a scent that attracts monsters. Camp Half-Blood is where we also train to fight those same monsters."

Right after she finished Sam walked in. He looked relieved that I was awake. "Ranulf! You're awake!"

I chuckled. "Of course. Nothing can keep me down for long! I'm as tough as nails."

He chuckled with me and hit himself on the forehead. "How could I forget?" he joked. "Remember that time you tried to climb to flagpole at school?"

I groaned. "Don't remind me. That was horrible."

Alexia looked at Sam. "Well? What happened?" she demanded.

He grinned gleefully. "In the middle of the year," he began, "a couple jerks were picking on a freshman. Ranulf here noticed and tried to get them to stop. They refused and kept on. He then made a bet with them. If he could climb to the top of the flagpole, they would leave the kid alone and never pick on him again. After a bit of discussion, they agreed." He looked at me with that stupid grin still on his face, while I just groaned again. He continued, "They went over to the flagpole, and by this time a few people had come over to watch. He started to climb, but as he got close to the top, the bullies started ramming into the pole. He tried to hold on, but the pole was shaking too much. He fell, and had to be taken to the doctor." Alexia gasped. "He broke an arm and fractured a rib." Sam paused for dramatic effect. "He was recovered in 5 weeks and back on the field in 6."

Alexia whistled. "5 weeks? That's pretty fast for out in the mortal world," she observed.

"The doctors were just as surprised as you are now," I said, amused. "They were reluctant to give me the okay to go back to school and then to play soccer. Eventually I got tired of waiting and played anyways."

Alexia was about to say something, but Sam clapped his hands together and beat her to it. "Anyways, Chiron and Mr. D will want to know that you're awake." He then lead us out of the room and outside.

Once outside Sam took us over to a table that sat on the porch. A middle-aged man with in a wheelchair sat beside a pudgy man with black hair and blood-shot eyes who was sipping a Diet Coke. They had a deck of cards but weren't playing anything. That was to change, however, because once they greeted us and told me they were glad I was alive, they asked us to join them in a game called pinochle (which I'd never heard of). I politely declined, but Alexia and Sam both accepted, and we all sat around the table.

As they played, the wheelchair man, who apparently was the Chiron from the legends, explained to me about the Greek gods, and how they were real, and blah, blah, blah. In all honesty, I found it a bit tedious. Alexia had already told me a lot of it, and I was able to piece together most of the rest. On other hand, one thing I didn't know who Mr. D was. He was Dionysus, god of wine. That was a shock, to say the least. He must have known what I was thinking, because when he looked me in the eye, there was a purple fire that reminded me he was more than just a pudgy wine god; he was also the god of madness, and not to be trifled with by a mere mortal like me.

At the end of the game, Chiron, I'm not exactly sure how to describe it, but, long story short, he ended up out of the wheelchair with his lower body as a horse. I guess that proves his claim. He instructed Alexia to show me to my cabin and then give me a tour of the camp. He told us to be quick, because lunch was in twenty. I was relieved. After five days of basically no food, I was starving. Subsequent to instructing us, he galloped off to break up a fight between two campers.

As we walked, a thought hit me. "Alexia?" I asked, breaking the silence.

She turned her head to look at me. "Mhm?" was her response.

"Chiron said I would be placed in the Hermes cabin. Does that mean each god has their own cabin for their kids?"

She smiled. "You're a smart one," she praised. "Every god gets their own cabin, even those who don't have children, such as the maiden goddesses."

This left me with another question. "If you get sorted into cabin by parent, then why am I being put into the Hermes cabin? Is he my parent?" Even though I asked it, I knew Hermes couldn't be my father. I'd had a dad, even if he'd died seven years ago.

She thought a second before answering. "We don't know. You're _undetermined_." She elaborated after seeing my confused expression. "It's the term used when a demigod's parent is unknown. All the undetermined go in Cabin Eleven, seeing as Hermes is the god of travelers." She paused for a second. "Both are old-fashioned. Since the gods made an oath at the end of the Second Titan War to claim all their children at the age of thirteen, the undetermineds move out in a day or two."

"Wait, thirteen?" I asked quizzically. She nodded. "I'm sixteen," I said slowly. For some reason, she her expression brightened at this.

We reached a brown cabin with a caduceus on the door. She was about to open it but stopped with her hand on the doorknob. She turned around and looked me up and down. "You know," she admitted, "that's what's got everyone talking. You and your friend, for some reason, weren't brought to camp and claimed when you were supposed to be."

"Three years late, to be precise," I added.

She nodded, for once not bothered by my interruption. "I just thought you should be warned. Some people... some people might resent you, for no other reason than they fear you might be a sign that the gods are returning to their old ways. Especially the Hermes campers; they had it the worst."

"I'll keep that in mind," I assured her. I smiled as she turned back to the door. I liked her. She was pretty cool.

"Oh, and one more thing," she advised me with her hand back on the doorknob. "I'd recommend you keep on hand on your wallet at all times. Hermes isn't the god of thieves for nothing." My hand subconsciously floated to my wallet at her obvious warning.

We headed inside and Alexia was immediately greeted by a chorus of "Hey!"s and "What's up?"s. She was obviously very popular here.

She replied to them with a wave and, "Woah there, calm down y'all. Just 'cuz I'm the coolest person ever doesn't mean you have freak out about it." This earned a round of chuckles from the inhabitants of the room.

A tall dude with curly brown hair spoke up: "Hey, Alexia, we still good to go for tonight?" he asked. There was obviously something I was missing here.

"Of course!" she responded. "Everything's in place, Travis." An evil grin crept its way onto her face.

"Hold the phone!" I interjected. "What's going on here?"

"Can't tell ya that," Travis' twin, who was standing beside him, answered. I could tell they were twins, for obvious reasons. "Top secret, hush-hush kinda stuff."

"If you told me you'd have to kill me?" I added dryly.

"Exactly!" Travis replied, pleased I had grasped it so easily.

Alexia ended, "All we can say is, bring your own drink to dinner."

"Oh, and before I forget," the twin said as we were leaving. He pointed to the top bunk to the left of the door. "that bunk is yours."

I bowed with mock reverence. "Thank you, oh mighty prankster. We shall take our leave now."

He chuckled and waved us off. We turned around and were about to head out the door when I heard some sniggers coming from behind me. "Aren't you forgetting something?" I heard one of the twins say.

My hand flew to my back pocket. I remembered Alexia's warning a little too late and I spun around. Travis's twin was twirling something small and black with silver etchings in the air. "Ha, ha, ha, very funny," I said, only half-sarcastic. As long as he gave my wallet back, I was fine with the little joke. "But I would appreciate that back any time now." He chortled gleefully and tossed it back to me.

I started riffling through it, counting my money, making sure it was all there. Alexia was about to walk out (so many delays), but I stopped. "Hold on a minute. I'm missing... ten dollars," I observed. I held my hand out for it. He sighed and pulled what he owed me out of his pocket. I accepted it and put it in back in my wallet where it belonged.

Travis whistled. "He's sharp," he commented. "Doesn't miss a trick that easily." He walked over to Alexia and whispered something her ear. She nodded and whispered something back. The only words I caught out of the whole exchange were _induct_ and _wait_. What were they talking about? They then did this weird handshake then he walked back over to his twin. I gave her a questioning look but she just shook her head and walked out the door, leaving me no choice but to follow.

Once outside I didn't pester her about the hushed conversation. I knew she'd tell me if she wanted to and needling her for information wouldn't help my cause. Instead, I asked her, "Who were the twins?"

"Oh, that's Travis and Connor Stoll," Alexia explained. "They're the co-councilors of the Hermes cabin and two of the camp's biggest mischief-makers."

_So that's who the other one was_, I thought to myself. Then another thought struck me. "I didn't see Selenia in there. Did she get claimed already?"

"Is that the chick who arrived with you?" When I nodded something that looked like resentment flashed in her eyes, but it was gone too fast for me to be sure. She continued before I could think about it anymore, "Yeah. I think she got put in the Hecate cabin. I wasn't there when she was claimed. I was in the infirmary, looking after you." She blushed at bit at this, and for some reason, so did I. "Because Apollo is the god of healing, the Apollo campers perform all of those kind of duties. I was assigned to take care of you."

Right then, some kind of horn sounded. "Dang it!" Alexia exclaimed. "I was supposed to give you a tour of the camp before lunch."

"There's always afterwards," I reminded her.

"That's true," she said thoughtfully. "It's not like I'll be missing any important lessons. I have swordsmanship and archery after lunch. Swordsmanship isn't that important, seeing as I don't use one, and I'm already a pro at archery, even among my cabin mates."

"Oh, I don't want to cause you to miss any of your lessons," I told her. "I'm sure I could find my way around this place if I had to."

She laughed. "Your sweet. But don't worry, I'll be fine. I've skipped enough classes before. What's one or two more?"

"Alright, suit yourself," I declared. I was actually kinda glad she was sticking with me, even though I gave her a way out.

"Anyways, here's what you need to do," she instructed me. "Any second now, your cabin mates will come out. When they do, they'll line up in order of oldest to youngest, before heading out to the dining pavilion. We sit at the tables by cabins, but before we eat, we get up and sacrifice a bit of our food to the gods.

As she spoke, sure enough, the rest of the cabin came outside. "I've got to go now," she continued hurriedly. "See you after lunch." She then ran off to line up with her cabin.

I did the same with the Hermes cabin. I was standing with a girl with long black hair in front of me and a guy with short brown hair behind me. He scowled at me when I took my place in front of him. Apparently when people where the same age height was what came next, and, seeing as I was slightly taller, I was ahead of him. And he made sure I knew it. The whole walk to the dining pavilion, he was stepping on my shoes, pushing me, anything that would annoy me. But I ignored it. I'd dealt with worse than a few shoves before, and wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of seeing me react.

I was so glad when we got to the eating area. Forget no reaction, I was about to punch this kid. We sat at our table while Chiron made his announcements. The only thing that really interested me was that there was a capture the flag game tonight. Apparently it was the Nike cabin versus the Athena cabin. Travis leaned over and told us we were on the latter team. Then Chiron had me stand up and introduced me to the rest of the camp, but I could tell most of them already knew who I was, even the Hypnos campers. I waved at everyone and sat down. He continued on for a minute or two then finally clapped hands and announced it was time to eat.

Some dryads (I was told the name by Travis again) walked around, handing out plates of hamburgers or hotdogs. I stood up with everyone else and got in line to sacrifice to the gods. I mentally thanked Alexia for informing me of what to do. When it was my turn I scraped a chunk of my hotdog and a few chips into the brazier. _To my mother_, I prayed silently. _Whomever you are._

I sat back down and put some ketchup on my hotdog and a little on the plate for the rest of my chips. I noticed a glass in front of me but it had nothing in it. I nudged Travis in the side and asked him where the drinks were.

He laughed and said, "You don't go and get the drinks. All you do is imagine whatever it is you want in your glass."

I looked skeptically at my cup and, feeling silly, spoke to it. "Pink lemonade," I told it. To my surprise, it filled up with the beverage I chose, almost like an invisible person was pouring it.

I started eating my food and talking to some of the people siting near me. I found I got along with the Hermes kids quite well (when they weren't trying to steal my wallet) and made a few friends. A couple people commented on me dipping my chips in ketchup. I'd just shrug and respond, "It's how I like it."

I finished my food and stared longingly at my empty plate. Roughly half a hotdog and some chips isn't much for a teenage boy. Travis noticed and chuckled lightly. He leaned over and whispered in my ear, "You know, we do have seconds available." I immediately perked up. More food? He roared with laughter and waved a dryad over. She handed me a plate, this one with a hamburger. I put ketchup on it and took a bite. It was delicious. I scarfed it down quick. I ate another hotdog and then walked out of the mess hall to meet Alexia for my tour.

She was sitting on the ground little ways in front of the mess hall. She was facing away from me, staring into space. I decided an opportunity like this was too good to pass up. I, as stealthily as I could, snuck up behind her. I leaned up to her ear and whispered, "Boo!" She jumped about a mile in the air and then spun around with her leg sticking out. I wasn't expecting anything like this, so it ended up crashing into my leg, sending me toppling to the ground (which I'm sure was what she intended). She stood up and said, "Oh, it's you," then walked away. I got up and set after her.

We walked for a good while before I spoke. "You've got to admit, that was pretty funny," I said, hoping she wouldn't kill me and be cool with it. But, just as my luck would have it, she didn't think so. She turned around and punched me in the eye. That's gonna leave a mark. "Ow!" I grumbled. It hurt worse than it normally would, since the scar from where Lycaon cut me was still tender. "What was that for?"

"For scaring me," was all she said in all she said in response. Somebody's talkative.

"Actually," I corrected her, "you already got me back. Remember when you murdered my shins?"

She stopped and turned around. She relented, "Fair point."

That's when we realized where we were. We were smack dab in the middle of the woods. Which was fine with me, actually, besides the whole lost part. I love it in the woods. So quiet, so peaceful. "Great," I muttered sarcastically. "Now we're lost in the woods. What's out here?"

She shook her head. "Nothing, really," she explained. "This is where we play capture the flag. The only things out here are monsters. That, and Bunker 9. And no-one goes there without personal invitation from the Hephaestus cabin."

I thought for a second before I spoke, "Well, I guess we should be getting back now. Come on." I started to walk back but then I heard a small cough behind me. I spun around. "What?"

Alexia shuffled her feet slightly awkwardly. "Umm..." she began and pointed to somewhere at my right. "You know camp is that way, right?"

I stated at her. "No it's not," I told her patiently. I pointed behind me. "It's that way."

"No, it's kinda obvious it's that way!" With that, she turned around and stalked off. I sighed. I couldn't have her wandering off by herself, could I? I grudgingly trudged off after her, my feet seeming to drag of their own accord.

I didn't catch up to her, most likely because I was reluctant to follow. To me, it seemed as clear as a bell that camp was in the direction I had indicated. Don't ask me why, I just had this nagging sense that I was right. Now we'll probably be eaten by monsters. As if my mind had been read, I was wrenched out of my musings by a scream that I knew came from Alexia.

**A.N.- Once again I'm sorry I took so long. I would've had this up a couple days ago but it was having some problems, and my school has it blocked.  
Alright, I'm going to rewrite a lot of my previous chapters (and this one) because the tone of the story isn't quite where wanted it to be.  
Please vote on my poll. It will help this our an make it go much smoother.  
Let me know what you think. Please Read and Review.**


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